The money raised would be used for strengthening technology, talent and brand.
Gurgaon-based peer-to-peer lending pioneer Faircent.com has raised pre-Series A round of $250K from Singapore based M&S Partners ("M&S") at an enterprise valuation of $8million (Rs. 50 crore).
M&S is led by Japanese investor Hiro Mashita, guy behind hundreds of VC deals in Japan, China, US and SE Asia over the last 15 years. The money raised would be used for strengthening technology, talent and brand.
Faircent.com promoted by Rajat Gandhi, Vinay Mathews and Nitin Gupta had done an angel round six months ago and today’s deal is a validation of the phenomenal traction it has been receiving from both borrowers and lenders. In nine months of operations Faircent has over Rs. 2.2 crore in lender commitment and loan demand of over Rs. 1.4 crore.
The company has been at the forefront developing its proprietary technology enabled credit appraisal and borrower rating system in India. “Our biggest success is in unlocking the retail lending side, which till now has been untapped and unheard of in the country,” said Rajat Gandhi, Founder CEO, Faircent.com.
“Over Rs. 80 lakh of loan offers are being made by lenders every month on the platform through an open bidding model,” added Vinay Mathews, Founder COO.
This round was raised while Faircent was part of InnoTrek delegation, an initiative of NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups Program that enabled 39 shortlisted companies from India to interact with top companies and VCs in Silicon Valley.
“I met Hiro at one of the mixers organised by NASSCOM and after two subsequent meetings we signed the deal” commented Mathews. “NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups programme has been a great support and enabler in our entrepreneurial journey in the last 2 years” continued Gandhi.
On the investment Hiro Mashita added, “We strongly believe that Faircent is one of the best Fin Tech partners, which provides most effective and trustworthy solutions to lenders and borrowers in India.”
Speaking on the role played by NASSCOM, Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council, said, "Truly delighted that the NASSCOM InnoTrek delegation helped connect Faircent's Vinay Mathews to world class seed investor in Hiro Mashita-san, who offered to back this very promising Indian start-up in very short order and at an excellent valuation. It is gratifying that our endeavour has resulted in a win-win outcome occur within days of the delegation concluding."
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